Canadian female goalie turned down by men’s league due to gender

One of Canada’s top female soccer players has been turned down in her efforts to play for a men’s league team due to her gender.

Stephanie Labbe is a 31-year-old goaltender from Edmonton who plays for Canada’s women’s national team. She played college ball at UConn and has played professionally in Sweden and the US. Labbe helped the Canadian national team win a bronze medal at the 2016 Olympics in Rio.

Labbe recently played for the Washington Spirit of the National Women’s Soccer League, but they let her go earlier this year. She began training with a men’s team, Calgary Foothills F.C., in an effort to make their team and had done so. The team asked the league to let her play, but was told that she is ineligible because she is a woman.

“Although our specific mission relates to the men’s game, we applaud all that female players have done to move the sport of soccer forward in North America,” the league said in the statement, via CBC. “Stephanie Labbé, in particular, has had tremendous success, and we wish her the best as she continues to pursue her career goals.”

Labbe wrote about the decision on her blog Tuesday.

“I have given it my best fight and feel myself fitting in, but unfortunately not everyone is as open minded about this situation. After inquiring to the league, The PDL’s initial response was that as per the rules ‘The PDL is a men’s league’ and ‘given that the PDL is a gender based league, women are ineligible to play’. Other sources have also stated that ‘because there are women’s professional, Pro-am and amateur equivalents, there is no mechanism to challenge,” Labbe wrote in a blog post published on her website.

“While I partially understand the league’s stance on this, it is still unsettling. There are moments that stick with us for life, and I believe this is one of them for me. We let others tell us what path we can or can not take or we find a new one on our own. This may be the first road block, but hearing ‘no’ doesn’t mean the end, it just means we have to find a diversion around the problem.”

“PDL” she refers to is the Premier Development League, which is just what the name says — a development league sponsored by United Soccer Leagues. The league contains many college athletes who retain their amateur status while playing. Most of the players are under 23 years old.

The club still considers Labbe part of the team, but she will not be able to play in games. She plans to fight the decision in the offseason to help clear a path for women.